My Only Escape
by asteroulik
Summary: Running away is never an option. Too bad Rin took it. But by doing that, he runs into the arms of the wrong people. {Au: Where even after the Impure King fight, Rin is still ignored}
1. Going Missing

**Ooooooooooooooohhhhpp! Hey! It's me, ya gurl. Here with a random story idea I had.**

 **I keep getting random ideas. So I get very** ** _Sadistic, Depressing, or just Angsty_** **ideas sometimes, so I turn them into stories or one-shots. I think this is going to be a full story cause there's a lot of explaining and plot gone into this. Also, this is an alternative universe where no one would forgive Rin for the whole secretive-satan-thingaling, even after the whole Impure King Arc he wasn't fully forgiven. Let's get started.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist**

 **Aaaaaaannnnnndddddd** ** _Italics are mostly Rin's thoughts, if they're someone else's i'll make sure I point it out._**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 _Why?_

 _I've done so much for them._

 _I've sacrificed so much for them._

 _Everything for_ _ **them!**_

 _So_ _ **WHY?!**_

 _Why can't they see past the title 'Spawn of Satan" and see i'm just as human as them._

 _Suguro, why do you blame me?_

 _Koneko, why don't you trust me?_

 _Shima, why can't you try talking to me?_

 _Shiemi, why would you ignore me?_

 _Yukio, why have you only seen me as a demon?_

 _And Izumo, why won't you reach out for me if you're not scared?_

 _Why.._

 _All of it doesn't matter anymore, i'm leaving it all behind. Tonight is the night i'll run away. I got an invitation by these nice people at a city called "Shimane Prefecture". I think that's a tourist spot near the Inari Shrines._

 _I've already booked a plane there. I'm kinda nervous because it's my first time on a plane._

 _Kuro is coming with me, I wonder if he'll be allowed on._

I glanced at my phone's clock.

 _It's 12:52 pm_

 _Yep, i'll be leaving at 2 am. Everyone, including Yukio, should be asleep by then. If exorcists are guarding the area, i'll have to jump from roof to roof._

 _I'll just wait and see._

* * *

 **One**

 **Hour**

 **Later**

 **:**

 _I'm currently in the airport. I have a few more minutes till my flight. Sneaking out and getting here was actually kinda hard for some reason._

 _The whole area had exorcists with flashlights looking like they would sleep their lives away if they could. They even had the freaking paladin checking around! I had to go through the forest but either way I still ended up at the right place._

Ding! "All passengers from flight **F-66 boarding** **"**

 _I guess that's my call._

"C'mon Kuro"

* * *

 **One**

 **Hour**

 **Later**

 **:**

 _I'm here, the place looks calm but i've heard that the deeper you explore, the more lost in lights you'll be._

 _I'm at the entrance of the airport waiting for the people to pick me up._

 _There they are!_

A large group of people wearing the exact same uniform walked up to Rin. At the very front, there seemed to be the leaders or something. Rin noted the bored looking woman and a very overweight man with a creepy smile to be the leader.

"Hello, Rin Okumura~", sang the fat one.

"My name is Michael Gedoin, this is our pick up team. We are here to successfully escort you to our main base. I'm here to ask you some questions along the way, understand?", the guy now named Michael Gedoin chuckled.

Rin nodded and walked at the group holding his bags.

They got to an area where a helicopter picked them up, and so they were off.

Along the whole way, he answered various questions to do with everything he knew.

When enough time passed and the sun rose, Rin finally remembered a question he had forgotten to ask since the start.

"Excuse me, uh, I forgot what you guys call yourselves..", Rin asked while slowly looking down.

 **"** **Oh, The Illuminati"**

* * *

 **Line Break: Could I possibly be done? Noooooo.**

 **Back**

 **At**

 **The**

 **Old**

 **Dorms**

 **:**

Yukio was barely waking up but already had the feeling something was wrong.

Today was a Saturday, so he wasn't late. There wasn't going to be any visitors either.

So what was so off?

He sat on his bed quietly and listened.

There isn't the faint snore from Rin.

" _Did he fall asleep in the roof?",_ Yukio thought to himself.

After a few minutes of dressing up, he went to check. But was greeted by an empty rooftop.

" _Where could he be_?"

Yukio's phone started ringing and he quickly answered it.

"Hello, Okumura speaking."

"Yes, good morning Mr. Okumura. I wanted to check in with Rin", calmly Mephisto said from the other end of the line.

"Right now I can't seem to find him Sir Pheles."

From Yukio's phone, the sound of a chess board being flipped suddenly rang.

"YOU MUST FIND HIM RIGHT AWAY", Mephisto yelled.

He had never sounded so panicked..

"IF YOU CAN'T PLEASE CALL ME RIGHT AWAY, I HAVE IMPORTANT BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO", and with that, Mephisto hung up.

"What could be going on?", Yukio wondered

* * *

 ***Mephisto stomps into the room very angrily***

 **Mephisto: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH THIS TIMELINE?!**

 **Me: Added some spice to it!**

 **Mephisto: Will my plans for the original universe be ruined?!**

 **Me: Of course not! Now Shoo, I need to give a final note! *Waves Mephisto off***

 **So, what did you all think? Is it** ** _SPICY_** **enough?**

 **Also about the centralized thing.. I, uh, I think I'm going to fix that next chapter. How? With a small time skip.**

 **Leave a review!**

 **Anyways, Good Day/Night!**

 ***still falling from skyscraper***


	2. I'm still here

**A new day and a baked chapter!**

 **I answered the few reviews..**

 ** _UnknownUnseenUnheard:_ Sorry for my bad writing on that. I hope I was able to fix it this chapter!**

 ** _Demonic Exorcist:_ I just did~**

 ** _Guest: Hopefully you checked in to see this update. I'm thinking of adding more spices in future chapters but for now i'm trying to brew up some sauce._**

 ** _I treat my stories like food 0_0._**

 **" _Spices"_**

 **" _Sauce"_**

 **" _Baked"_**

 ** _RIN! I MIGHT BE A BETTER COOK THAN YOU!_**

 ** _WAIT, NEVERMIND. I MAKE EVERYTHING TOO SPICY~_**

 ** _Anyways~_**

 ** _I don't own Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist_**

 ** _Enjoyyyy_**

* * *

 **Yukio's**

 **Pov**

 **:**

 _He's been gone for two months._

 _Two months!_

 _Just a few days before strange things started happening around campus._

 _A student named Sei Godaiin was reported to have started seeing demons._

 _Why reported? Cause every time one got close him, he would scream._

 _Mephisto had to wipe his memory and use special eye drops so he wouldn't see any more demons._

 _Afterwards, Mephisto sent my class to go after the Seven School Mysteries. It resulted in various incidents and difficulties between the students._

 _Rin has been gone for a while now and I insisted in someone looking for him, but after Mephisto came back from a small meeting, he said that Rin may not come back._

 _Shura and I set up a secret search team the Vatican approved of and have been having no luck on._

 _When my students found out, they didn't have much of a reaction._

 _Shiemi was the only person that asked if he was alright._

 _Izumo and Shima just ignored the situation._

 _Konekomaru and Suguro seemed glad he was gone._

 _I can't seem to feel anything towards the situation but for now, I think i'll ignore it._

 _Right now, I believe Shura should be getting here to help me move all my stuff. Rin surprisingly had his stuff go missing too. Is it possible he ran away?_

 _Agh! I shouldn't think about it. I need to finish packing._

* * *

 **New**

 **Dorm**

 **(Shima's Pov)**

 **:**

Shima was looking around every corner, checking if anyone was there to see him.

The festival started in a few days and he had work on his hands.

The Illuminati was on the move and he was being dragged along.

New members were appearing here and there! There were so many that he even got a new superior.

"Just a little more", he whispered as he jogged out of the building…

Then proceeded to crash into a fast-paced Yukio.

Yukio fell down while a dizzy Shima tried to stop his vision from spinning.

Shima stumbled for a few seconds before gaining balance again.

"Sorry Teach, guess I was a little too rushed", Shima chuckled while helping Yukio back on his feet.

"It's alright there's no problem. It's my fault for not watching where I was going", Yukio said while picking up his glasses that had flew off within impact.

"I better be going, see you Monday at cram school", Yukio waved off.

 _'I wonder what Mr. Okumura is doing here.._

 _Ahh! I'm so curious but I have to report in!_

 _Maybe they won't mind if i'm a little late'_

With those thoughts in mind, Shima turned around and sneakily followed Yukio.

As Yukio turned the corner and met Shura, Shima stopped in the hallway.

He leaned against the wall, put his phone on "recording" and put a few thing on the floor so if they were to see him, he would have a good excuse for being there.

"Is there anything else left?"

"No, I just checked. Any reports on the search team?"

"They stopped looking for him. I'm sorry, Yukio.."

They went quiet for a bit and then they began talking again.

This time, Shima couldn't hear because he wasn't close enough, but his phone could.

After 15 minutes of sitting on the floor, pretending to be picking up two notebooks and three pencils, Shima's phone rang.

" _Oh no, NOT NOW! Why now?!", he whispered desperately trying to pick everything up._

Shima quickly reached over for his phone before Yukio and Shura peeked their heads around the corner.

"Ah, hey! Sorry about that, I dropped a bunch of my stuff and didn't notice you both", Shima lied. He silently turned off his phone and awkwardly smiled at the two.

 _'Buy it, buy it, please don't get suspicious. I'm already in enough trouble..',_ he desperately thought.

"It's fine, kid. I thought you were listening to us talking", Shura said rolling her eyes and walking away from both boys.

"Anyways, I better go sign out for the day, see ya!", she said taking out a dimensional key from her pocket.

From there she left Yukio to walk off from where he was and Shima to run out of the building.

As Shima got out of the building, his phone rang again.

The phone id reading "Baws' as a catchy tune played.

He answered the call.

"Hellooo?"

" _YOU'RE LATE!",_ yelled a female voice.

"Sorry about that. I had some business to attend to. I'll be on my way."

"The meeting will be starting soon, hurry it up!"

"Alrighty"

The call ended and Shima hurried into a forest where a small helicopter was hidden.

* * *

 **Hidden Illuminati base**

 **:**

Shima walked into a meeting room where his superior, leader, and few others resided.

He looked around noting a few new people in the room.

Then he was smacked over on the head.

"YOU'RE EXTREMELY LATE!", yelled his superior.

"My apologies", Shima said smiling.

"Forgiven", said Lucifer as he adjusted his mask.

"But Lord Lucifer-"

"We must start the meeting", he said as he coughed slightly

 **Thirty minutes of stuff you people don't need to know ;3**

"There's also a new superior in our main branch", Lucifer said moving his arm to introduce a guy in a black and dark blue mask. The mask covered his whole head and had two holes where the eyes were. The mask was mostly hollow so their eyes couldn't be seen.

The was wearing the Illuminati uniform and a black cape on his back.

He stood in front of many, and was rather short.

"You will call me "Ao", I am the leader of the Spy and Guard watch.", they said. The mask having modified their voice.

He went back to being behind Lucifer and waited for a few seconds, before Lucifer got up and announced to do the pledge. After that, everyone was dismissed.

Shima was ready to walk out the door but was stopped by the group leader now named Ao.

Shima stopped and looked down at the short leader.

"Sir?", Shima finally asked.

"My apologies, I just wanted to ask how progress has gone."

"Target hasn't moved much and Okumura has been avoiding conversations."

"Good, and by the way, you don't have to watch Okumura anymore. Lord Lucifer is satisfied."

"May I ask why?"

Ao took his mask off revealing Raven hair. He looked up at a stunned Shima.

"The Illuminati already has a vessel", Rin said.

* * *

 **WHOOOOOOO BOY! I didn't know people were going to start reviewing the same day I decided to work on the next chapter.**

 **Have some excitement!**

 **Anyways.. Bapit-iba-bye!**


	3. Spy on the Spy

**Tututu! Turu turu! Turu tututututututu!**

 **It's a beautiful day for an update on a story I haven't ruined yet!**

 _ **"Wow, I have a lot of people to disappoint"**_

 **-Meowth from Pokemon**

 **(Such wise words…)**

 **Anyways let's get into it! :3**

* * *

 **Illuminati base**

 **:**

Shima was frozen in time.

His mind just didn't know how to respond.

Rin just stood there, studying Shima's expression. After a few seconds of silence, he put mask back on and turned to Lucifer. Lucifer just nodded up and down until he started coughing blood. His bodyguard ran up to him and started assisting him while Rin dragged a pink haired statue. After they got out of the room and into one of the waiting halls, Shima's brain finally got over it's trance.

"What . the . hell . Okumura?!"

Rin looked Shima with rage in his eyes, but Shima couldn't see that rage through the mask.

"I'm not 'Okumura' anymore! I'm Aoi hono. That's going to be my name. As your superior I ask you to use it.", 'Ao' said sternly.

"Man, not even fan fic authors can call you Rin now! I think your teenager hormones are what's making you act so weird.", Shima sighed.

"Says the guy who acts as a spy because of his 'rebellious' phase."

"WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT?!"

"No one, but Lucifer has taught me a trick or two about guessing future events. Anyways, you should go back to True Cross, it's getting late and people will get suspicious."

"Sure.."

"Also, expect a wack in the head by Suguro. He found something inappropriate under your bed."

"The magazines?", Shima asked to nothing.

Ao/Rin was already gone. To whoever knows where.

* * *

 **The new dorms**

 **(Shima's Pov)**

 **:**

Shima slowly entered his dorm room and closed the door as quietly as he could.

It was late. REALLY LATE. So late that Suguro and Konekomaru had already fallen asleep.

Shima tip-toed all the way to his bed, he was about to grab his sleepwear before a tall figure stood behind him.

"SHIMA..", the figure said starting to raise his voice from a whisper to regular talk.

 _'Dear Lord, forgive my sins, I swear i'll stop peeking into girls' bathrooms if I turn around to nothing. JUST PLEASE DON'T LET THERE BE SOMEONE WITH KILLING INTENT BE BEHIND ME.'_

However,whatever 'lord' he was pleading to, had not listened.

Shima turned around and had to duck to avoid a large swinging arm.

"Heeeeeyyyyyy… B-Bon!"

"Where did you run off to?! Konekomaru and I looked all over the school for you! Konekomaru was about to start linking your disappearance to-", Suguro trailed off not wanting to say the rest. After he trailed off, a soft groan could be heard across the room.

Koneko woke up and sat up.

"..Bon? Is Shima back..?"

"Yeah.. you can go back to sleep. I'll deal with the idiot."

Konekomaru clumped back down onto his mattress.

Suguro then grabbed Shima by the ear and gruffly whispered into Shima's ear.

"WHERE. THE. HELL. WERE. YOU?!"

"Few stores, that's all", Shima lied.

"Few stores, eh? Also, why do you have something like that under your bed?", Suguro pointed at a deflated balloon like object under Shima's bed.

Shima stood there, pale but not as pale as earlier in the meeting.

What was something like that doing there? It wasn't his!

"That's.. Not mine.", Shima replied.

"Shima, you have exactly tens seconds to tell me the truth or I'm going to chase you out of Assiah."

"It's not mine!"

Suguro quickly started walking towards Shima with a face from hell itself.

Shima slowly turned around and ran for his life.

He didn't even make it out of the building though.

* * *

But what he had said was true.

The 'thing' under his bed was not his.

It was placed there by an unnoticed figure standing at the edge of the rooftop of the building.

"A spy being spied on. He must not be trained enough to notice me. That reminds me, I wonder how their four-eyed teacher is doing.", Rin/Ao noted.

He walked to another corner of the rooftop and looked down.

Seeking target..

 _Name: Yukio Okumura_

 _Height: 180 cm / 5'11"_

 _Weight: Around 70 kg / 154 lbs_

 _Important notes: Fast reaction. But hesitant if under stress. Smart but can get too cocky at times. Gets annoyed very fast but doesn't show it._

 _His movements are slow but he's awake._

 _There's someone else in the room.._

 _They're moving a little more than Yukio._

 _...Shura._

Rin/Ao took a few steps back and took two daggers out.

Man, how he has changed during two months.

He was trained to move quicker than the eye and how to blend in.

He wasn't going to do that at the moment, since he was given permission to check on Shima and Izumo. That doesn't mean he can't check in on Yukio too.

But, now the voluminous woman was alerted of his location.

He had to move to the next task soon.

But he just walked into a dark corner of the rooftop and let himself fall off the railing.

Rin/Ao then stabbed the daggers into a tree branch on his way down to stop his fall.

On the ground below him, he poured a bottle of demon blood. (Obviously not his though!)

There, now if any camera saw him, they would think it was some demon.

Next stop.. Girls' dormitory.

* * *

 **Inside Yukio's new room**

 **:**

Yukio and Shura were talking about how the order of finding the Illuminati spy.

"Yukio.. Don't move", Shura said turning towards the window.

Yukio froze and just watched Shura as she began to look out the window.

"I think I saw something, we should go check just in case", Shura finally said.

After a few moments a loud _CRASH_ could be heard.

Now they definitely had to go check!

They both ran outside the building.

After a few minutes of searching for nothing, they gave up looking.

"I can't believe they got away!", Shura complained.

"Are you sure it wasn't one of the students?", Yukio asked before saying, " I've had similar situations to this and it ended up being some classmates of mine".

"Students wouldn't be on the roof at 2 AM, I thought you were smart, four-eyes!"

"You wouldn't believe the number of people that get up at this hour to do dumb things."

"Ugh, let's continue this tomorrow. I'm too tired to think. Anyways..", she yawned as she exited the dorm room," good night!".

Yukio sighed and whispered to himself, "I couldn't tell you weren't able to think at this hour, I thought that was you being regular you..".

He smirked as he got dressed and went to bed.

Yukio quickly fell asleep never realizing a mask wearing half demon on top of a tree, peeking in at him.

"I guess he's fine that i'm gone..", Ao/Rin chuckled as he took a small needle out of his pocket.

* * *

 ***wakes up at 2 AM* oooh! It's 2 AM!**

 **;3**

 **Anyways to cut things short for the Shima and Bon scene.. Rin put a *cough* doll *coughs* under Shima's bed. Think of him to be like "We can't know the future, so let's manipulate it until we do."**

 **SOooooooo**

 **Good day/night!**

 **(My begging: Please review…)**


	4. Distractions for his Emotions

**ANNNNNNDDD IIIIIIIIIIEEEEIIII- HOLY SHIT (I love listening to that)**

 **Hey! I'm baaaack!**

 **I can't believe I reached 20 likes. (I have low standards for myself)**

 ***Wipes tear from eye* I'm so proud..**

 **I have to keep things right! But first..**

 ***Pulls out manga and starts re-reading to make sure what events come next and to try and learn every character's personality***

 **Sorry that today's short.. since I've been busy and tired..**

 **Hope you're all not mad i'm a little late..**

 **Let's get into it!**

* * *

 **(That same night)**

Ao/Rin chuckled as he took out a small needle out of his pocket.

He looked at it's sharp point.

He sighed, then checked his back pocket.

Sure enough, what he was looking for was there.

He pulled out a small plush.

A plushie that looked identical to himself.

The only difference was that the plush had different clothes and no mask.

Ao/Rin took a tiny listening device, opened up the plushie's head, put the listening device inside of it, then used the needle to close it up. Sewing it back together was easy, since it had become one of his main talents, next to cooking. He silently pulled the string on last time to make sure it was closed up right.

From there, he stuffed it into one of his pockets and jumped from the branch to the ledge of Yukio's window.

He was grateful that Yukio almost always left his window slightly open. Enough for him to slide the plush onto a the desk by the window.

Mini mission complete.

He let go of the window ledge and let himself fall into a bush.

He fell from a few stories but it wouldn't do much damage.

Yeah, it made a bunch of noise, but what's life without some excitement?

It made noise. But this time, not enough to wake up anyone.

He stood up and silently started running. His mission was already done, and he had used his spare time to check on Yukio. Time to report in all gathered information. Eventually, he ran off the campus and into the same forest Shima had run to, days prior.

From there, he left to the Main Illuminati Base.

* * *

 **~Smol line break~**

 **Me: AM I SUPPOSED TO CALL HIM RIN OR AO?! I'M TOO SCARED TO TRY ANYTHING!**

 **Uhhhhh Satan Jr: Call me Ao, and please take away the "Satan Jr"!**

 **Me: AAAAAAAH! No!**

 **~Back to story~**

 **Third person Pov**

 **(Rin/Ao's apartment)**

 **:**

Rin closed the door behind him. He had to admit, he was tired. He had experienced worse, but that was a situation where he was used to the worst. It was in those two months.. The training months. His training was hard and cruel and tiring, but he had passed all that already. Right now, he actually had a few hours to rest.

Rin took off his shoes, mask, and cape as he stepped through the apartment.

His small apartment had very little furniture and looked rather basic. He came here weekly to take his break and practice hobbies when he got bored. Boredom had become a common thing, so he leaned new hobbies. A hobby he gained at the time was sewing and stitching. It helped him get rid of emotions that would get in his way.

His small apartment had two rooms. One of the rooms was used for all his hobbies. That room was full of paintings, stuffed animals, and anything that could have been once used to waste time or clear emotion.

The most common emotions would holdt either bad memories.. Or just weird ways of getting rid of them. As much as he has tried, they all keep coming back.

 **Guilt..**

He didn't know why, but something about the needle fixing any opened stuffed animals helped him get rid of any doubts or thoughts that held guilt. All stuffed animals had at least 3 stitches on them. They weren't his, but they were Kuro's. Keyword "were". After the poor cat sith found that Rin had started working for a side that went against what Shiro worked for, they got into an argument, and eventually it turned into a fight. Rin had chosen to not harm the cat, but what the Illuminati did to him next was cruel. What happened to Kuro? Well.. a scientist created a special collar that controlled demons with sounds, and everytime they tried to disobey or remove the collar, they got electrocuted. Who's to say those weren't used sometimes..

 **Worry..**

Sewing and stitching also helped Rin get rid of any anxiety that told him something was going to go wrong. It's as if he was the needle and thread that stitched things back together. Problem? He can fix it. But not everyone can go thinking that, without asking "What if this happens? Or what if I fail". That was another reason for the sewing.

 **Harm..**

Sometimes.. He would accidentally poke his skin with the needle. It was a small pain accompanied by a drop or two of blood. The sting was satisfying, but Rin knew he couldn't waste himself. He was an important key for the future and he couldn't waste his blood on satisfaction.

After a few minutes of getting rid of his thoughts with stitches, he decided to sleep. Rin got into his nightwear and dozed off on his furry couch.

* * *

 **(Morning)**

 **True Cross**

 **New boys'**

 **Dorm**

 **:**

The dorm room was quiet.

But, why wouldn't it be?

It was Yukio's room.

Well.. someone else was in the room.

Sneaky sneaky Shura!

"Hmm, what should be the wake up of a day? Draw on his face? Nah, that wouldn't be as funny as last time.. Oh! Maybe I can yell him awake! Four eyes won't know what hit 'em!", she thought.

Shura knelt next to Yukio's bed and sucked in a large amount of air.

"BWAAAAAAAAA Good mo-"

 **Gunshot.**

 **A fReAkIn GUnsHoT!**

"What the hell, chicken?!

"Oh sorry, it's a common reaction.", Yukio said lowering his gun.

"Trigger happy, eh? Bweh! There was a reason I named you the "four eyed chicken"!"

"Would you stop calling me that? It's annoying", after that comment Yukio thought for a few seconds. " _Why does Shura remind me of Rin so much now?"_.

As he was thinking, he spaced out. Shura waited a few seconds before waving her hand in front of his face, trying and failing to regain his attention.

She sighed a few seconds later.

"Blind idiot.."

* * *

 **Super short right?!**

 **Into the reviews~**

 _Yukio Mustang:_ **Abra cadabra! New chapter.**

 _LeeSoora:_ **Well.. not exactly. The Shima situation was going to be explained in this chapter, but I didn't have much time to type everything without being late.**

 _ShiroKAGE54:_ **Update has arrived~ I'm glad you're liking the story..**

 _EvenLoveLies:_ **More is here~**

 **Anyways.. Hope you all enjoyed!**

 **Uhhhhh…**

 **Good Day/Night!**


	5. It Was Gone

_It Was Gone._

 _I don't own Ao no Exorcist, Kazue Kato does._

* * *

Boots stepped on the shadowed view. _Tak tak tak_ , the boots' heels sounded. Mephisto came into view for the audience, taking off his large top hat. "Um," he started, unsure of his audience's attention. "Not to play Devil's Advocate or anything, and this may be part of my own pet theory, but I believe there's three-" he paused for a second, "No, four reasons that keep human life at a continuation."

"The first is greed. Greed for resources such as food, clothing, shelter, and money keeps them at work. Without that work, most humans would immediately get bored of life because of the empty space of time left open for nothing," yen bills started slowly falling from nowhere towards the demon. He held a stack for you, the viewer and reader, to see. A pink cloud of smoke consumed the paper, and only Mephisto was left. "The second reason would be lust, and it's something most living beings experience because of the constant need to procreate. Mostly to leave a legacy and expand their life along with blood! If not to fill their own lives with physical pleasure with or without a partner!" Mephisto spun and came back into view with the same blowup doll Rin had previously put under Shima's bed. Mephisto showed it to the audience, and much like the money, a pinkish smoke took it. "Now, can anyone guess what the third reason is?"

Someone beside you said "Desire to sleep? I'm sleepy and tired of all this reading," they yawned.

"Goodness that was an idiotic answer, no!" Mephisto answered.

There were whispers.

"Did I hear a desire for love and or fame?" the chief demon asked, putting his gloved hands next to his ear, "close and reasonable guesses, but wrong."

"The correct answer is a desire for knowledge!" he yelled across space. "Most say they don't care about the superiority they'd get from the knowledge no one else but themselves have! The fool's lie becomes obvious through time! What is your purpose? What makes the difference between you and a demon like me? Who are you? What will you do in this life that you didn't choose to receive?" Mephisto looked back at the setting. "Most of these questions will haunt your life at least once, and it's those same questions that either make you or break you. That's why the answer to those questions are so important."

Time and space's king snapped his fingers, and the background changed to a long room with a long table full of people with tall chairs, chattering. He turned to a specific person walking to the front of the elongated table. "This," Mephisto looked forward to the young man standing before the table, "is the perfect example for someone who is starving for the knowledge, the answers to those questions."

Yukio stood firmly in front of his superiors. Instructions of not asking questions himself and of not to share any following information made clear to him through a Contract of Morinath.

The meeting was similar to the one from a few days ago which had consisted of a report on a demon eater similar to Todo along with the discovery of an artificial Gehenna gate.

Lewin Light mostly questioned the teenager in the room, only receiving nervously unsure answers. Something about Lewin creeped Yukio out, the seemingly glowing eyes under his hair and hat's shadow could be to blame, but it felt like it was something he didn't know or couldn't see about him.

"I can't ask questions," remembered Yukio, trying to kill off his urge to ask about if any progress on his brother's whereabouts as well as for what was next for his future.

His thoughts were interrupted when Arthur A. Angel, the current paladin, spoke up, reminding him of how if he were to break the promise in the Contract of Morinath, he would die. Yukio answered with acknowledgment and promptly asked to leave. So, he did.

Lewin smirked, listening to Angel's and Shura's bickering about the young boy's attitude and need for the contract.

"Now that THAT Okumura is gone, how's progress on the search for the-" Light cut himself off and instead mumbled the rest of the statement before bringing the original main topic to the table. He cleared his voice and informed the room's members of his familiar's findings. Spies in the Vatican and Japan Branch along with the moment of ranks in the Illuminati. Those weren't his only findings, but he still had to confirm a rumor he heard from a familiar.

Yukio walked into his dorm room, his eyes wandering onto the full book bag. Today was tutoring day with Shiemi. Sunday, to be specific. He took a few steps, hearing their thumps and taking notice of the echo they made. It was the first time in a while he took note of how lonely the dorm was. It felt... sad. Like if he was the only person in a vast world where no one else could understand his actions and decisions. Why did it have to be that way? Yukio stood for a few seconds and slowly brought himself back to reality. He felt a vibration on his pant pocket and took out his phone. A reminder for 15-minutes before he needed to head to the supply shop flashed up on screen. Oh yeah, he still needed to get ready. Yukio turned off the alarm and got changed.

Tutoring in an exorcist uniform didn't seem comfortable, so he always changed to more casual clothes before leaving. The teenager stopped for a second and took note of how close the thought of "I need to swap into something more relaxed because I can't tutor in a uniform." sounded uncomfortably close to an innuendo. Yukio then continued getting ready while lecturing himself, and being thankful no one was there at the dorm to see the faint blush on his face. The more and more Yukio thought about the way he had been talking about tutoring, the more and more he realized it was starting to sound like he was talking about a date. "Damn it, me."

* * *

"Math, please!" said the girl sitting across from him, "I don't understand any of it!"

Yukio calmly smiled, "Where is your mother today?"

Shiemi blinked a few times, processing the question. "Um," she stuttered, "she's out shopping. She's been really busy recently."

Yukio turned to look at the entrance to the room, and towards where the supply shop started. "Is it all right for me to be in here?" asked Yukio. Shiemi trembled a bit. She was getting more nervous by the second. "Of course!" she stammered, "Mom said not to worry about the shop!" Yukio smiled even though the answer she gave wasn't really to what he originally meant. Shiemi shook a bit and became a shade of light red. Yukio looked up from organizing some questions together and asked, "Shall we get started?"

The blonde of the two gave a quick and sharp "Yes!" and so, the lesson started.

During the learning and practice, Shiemi stayed determined as her tutor remained calm. "This," thought Yukio, "is just like a few years ago."

Shiemi smiled as she excused herself from the small table to get some tea ready for the two. "Just like a few years ago," thought Yukio. His memories and thoughts began to crash into reality. "Fujimoto!" Yukio's past self called to his adoptive father. Shiro turned back to the youth, noting his distraught tone. "Why are you raising us?" he continued his questions, "Why does Lord Pheles let us live?"

That time, Yukio had noticed, Shiro had clenched his jaw. He'd only ever seen him do that whenever dealing with demons or when irritated. "You've researched it in the records vault and online, haven't you?" Shiro instead said. How Shiro found that out, he didn't know. The young boy told of his findings, nothing. He still didn't get an answer to his primary questions.

Shiro's response was of how he couldn't tell him yet. "Why?" Yukio kept asking to himself. His adoptive father had said he'd learn one day. When would that day be? The questions were blunt and asked for an answer vital to himself, that's why he kept asking them. On that rainy day, Shiro's response only made Yukio question more and more. He kept looking for answers. Yukio wanted answers, and he was going to get them from Shiro. Or so he thought. One day, Shiro died, and Rin gained his demonic side. Shiro died without giving him answers. He said he'd get them, so why didn't he?

The background rain took over the memory as another formed.

This time, the young exorcist stood in front of Sir Pheles. Pheles didn't tell him anything useful. He only gave him more work to fill up his time. Tests for Rin, schooling for Rin, watch over Rin, Rin Rin Rin. It was always him. Yukio could see why, but it was coming to the point where he felt less like a brother and more like a nonexistent guardian. That day, Yukio had called Mephisto out for plotting. The damn clown was plotting something, and he needed to know. Slowly, the memory faded and he came back to the peaceful setting that was Shiemi's home. It was naturally serene, but Yukio's thoughts distracted him from it, even made the silence stressful and chaotic. Ideas about answers left forgotten, plotting demon kings, and no idea whom to trust. Is Mephisto on humanity's side? Was Rin's disappearance planned? He, Pheles, probably knew about Yukio's left eye and yet for some reason, he keeps quiet about it. If that continues, the situation will likely pass the point of no return. Yukio pressed his finger against one of the books he was holding, feeling the small cut from the Contract of Morinath. A thousand and one more thoughts exploded onto him. "Yuki?" Shiemi said, snapping Yukio's train of thought. "Are you okay?"

He blinked for a few seconds and looked up to see her holding a teapot and looking at him with worried eyes. "Oh um," he stuttered, "Yes, well, now I am."

Every thought and idea stopped at that second. That had never happened before. Yukio patiently smiled at Shiemi. Something inside of him changed, he could breathe, and no questions came. "Sorry, I got lost. Did you ask a question?"

Shiemi only smiled in return, "Oh, no. Not at all! I just wanted to offer you some tea. I completely forgot to ask!" she said nervously.

"R-Right, thank you." the other stuttered out. "I'm," she paused "I'm really enjoying this," Shiemi said, pouring tea into another teapot for her tutor. Shiemi then froze "Am I supposed to? We're supposed to be studying after all."

Yukio looked her in her green eyes and said: "You can."

The girl's reaction to that statement was to turn away and turn an intense shade of pink. Even Yukio himself put a hand over his face to his own comment. Both quickly returned to the task of studying, and everything went back to "Nice."

* * *

Mephisto rested his head on his fist as he watched the two teenagers continue at a conversation. "Heh heh heh," the demon laughed and smirked, "Instead of remaining at personal problems, humans put everything behind them for feelings like love. It's pathetically cute. And— " Samuel paused and blinked for a few seconds as if in disbelief. "He's calm? The boy is losing interest in his questions?"

Mephisto sat up as if whatever happened before him wasn't meant to be. "Oh?" he said, "I forgot something — the fourth reason for human life." A deep frown spread across the face of Mephisto. "This reason, I am quite unsure about. It, which also came to become a theory of sorts, is not mine," he said, irritated.

Even if Pheles doubted the reason, he continued, "The fourth reason for the continuation of life is jealousy." He looked around nervously as if expecting another object to pop out of nowhere to show an example. "You see," his eyes wandered around the darkness, "without jealousy and anger first consuming someone, no one can ever get their motivation to become better."

A gigantic trophy with a large "#1." fell from above and almost broke the demon's head. Mephisto stuck his tongue out at space not before catching it with both hands. "Jealousy could easily get rivalries started as well as greed to be the best, rolling. Every human experiences jealousy at least once in their life, it's inevitable. It, jealousy, is the reason why someone may act childish and without thought. Like a desperate measure, it'll cause humans to lash out if not, show defense without much reason. It could be because of talent, privilege, and so much."

Someone beside you chuckled under his or her breath as if making fun of what Samuel said. Such action did not go unnoticed and made Mephisto irritated. The prize in his hands quickly banished into pink smoke as Mephisto stood almost defensively. He snapped his fingers expecting another scene to fade into existence to show the importance of the fourth reason. Nothing but small popping lights appeared. _Pop! POP POP POP!_ They echoed. They sounded like pop rocks but annoyingly loud. The demon tried three times again, becoming desperate only for little pops of light to show themselves. Clenching his jaw, Mephisto turned back and clapped his hands just for a faint scene to appear.

Shima hurried across some room before the setting faded to dust. A strong gust of wind blew space which caused the king of time and space's cape to dance as if to make fun of the king himself. Everything became palpably cold as the last thing to be seen is Mephisto's back, cape affected by the wind and top hat casting an ominous shadow over Samuel. Everything faded off, giving the sign of a soon-to-be continuation.

 _That wasn't supposed to happen._

* * *

The shy flower girl waved as her tutor left her home. "Yuki is really smart," Shiemi thought as she picked up the used teacups from her early study session. "He's the same age as me, and I bet he's helped many people like me. He has his future all planned out, unlike me.." Shiemi suddenly paused at the last sentence.

She has a future, right? After all, she seemed to be cut out to be a tamer and doctor type of exorcist, but if she became an exorcist, what would happen next? Her, out in the battlefield, risking her life? Shiemi's mom had a business to take care of, what would happen to the shop when she's gone with a job of her own? Her mom had never tried to hire someone to take care of the shop and what if she didn't?

Shiemi had initially only joined the cram school to learn more about school and to meet new friends. First was Yuki, then Rin, then she met Miss Kamiki and Paku. Shiemi remembered that day with the Impure King, how Kamiki kept trying to push her away. Shiemi did what she thought was right, though, and she stubbornly helped Kamiki. When she did, it felt warm and free, and then she felt Izumo painfully fall on top of her. The fall had hurt a lot but looking at it now, Shiemi silently giggled whenever she thought about it. After that, she and Kamiki started talking a bit more. Shiemi had made a friend, and she was sure of it. Earlier that week, the exorcist class dealt with the Seven School Mysteries. She and Izumo dealt with toilet Mayuko, in which Izumo saved her from a horrible choking by demon hair. Their reward was a good laugh at all of the boys' attempts to crossdress. The memory made her giggle again.

Shiemi squeezed the sponge she was using to wash the traditional teacups. She left the dishes to dry next to the sink and headed over to the front of the shop. 6:08 o' clock, the store clock read. "It's time to close the shop. Mom should be here soon," she thought. Carefully, Shiemi closed the door to the shop, and she made her way to her room in the garden. She went into her room and turned to an old chest next to the shed's entrance. Shiemi's grandmother had always kept her garden tools in the old crate before her. The girl opened the box and took out a small shovel and a few pots. She's been meaning to fill the containers for a while now as well as reorganize all the equipment in there.

There were some more boxes in the shed she needed to figure out how she could make use for them. Shiemi then turned back to her room and stared. Her mom often reads magazines with random news and pictures on them. There would usually be little stories at the very back of the magazines. Shiemi remembered how she read one of those stories one time, she learned about how friends had sleep-overs and how colorful children's rooms were. When she thought of the descriptions the magazine gave and compared them to her room, she noticed significant differences.

Her bedroom didn't have any decorations, and it only consisted of her bed, vanity, closet, and boxes. Other kid's rooms had bright lamps, chairs, desks, toys, and so much more. "I wish my room looked like those," Shiemi thought, her eyes wandering back at the items in her hands. She stared for a moment," Lively... Live? Life!"

An idea popped into her head, and Shiemi softly smiled as she walked out of the shed and into her garden full of life.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm off hiatus, I've got a schedule in mind, and holy hell my writing has changed. This story is a mess, but I'll work my best with it. I know I'm late but Happy New Year. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.**


	6. Today's Plans are Tomorrow's Disaster

_Today's Plans are Tomorrow's Disaster_

 _I don't own Ao no Exorcist, Kazue Kato does._

* * *

Paku set a paintbrush down and stepped back to admire her hard work. A large poster she and a few other students have been working on lay on a school desk. The festival was tomorrow, and she has absolutely no time to waste. Currently, she was alone inside a classroom, finishing up the final touches for a sign.

The principal himself had put her in charge of decorations. Other students were outside, setting up posters and decorations. The food stand area was being cleared and cleaned, ready for the mess tomorrow would be.

The young girl peeked through one of the windows and down at a younger student. Younger grade kids were having trouble setting up the gigantic balloons outside. It'll be a miracle if the balloons don't go off flying because of the strong autumn winds. She'll have to head over in a few minutes to make sure they don't get hurt or blown away. Paku turned back to her poster, pondering on whether or not to add more to the sign. It looked nice. It could use some more detail, but it didn't have to. After all, "The artist is the one who decides when the painting is finished, not the audience," one of her favorite artists once said. Eh, it looked good enough to be hung up.

Thank goodness her experience with makeup was useful with art. Drawing colorful patterns on her hands and herself was always a fun hobby. Izumo still protests against makeup, even as many tutorials and cosplay makeup tutorials she watches online. Paku smiled, remembering. Behind the girl, the classroom door slightly opened as if someone was peeking in. After a few seconds, it slowly closed. That didn't go unnoticed by the girl. She walked over to the door, expecting to see maybe a lost student or something reasonable.

She opened the door to find no one. Maybe someone had wandered into the wrong classroom? Izumo and Shiemi were supposed to be in a nearby hallway, perhaps they came to check on her but had to leave in a hurry. Even so, something about finding no one at the door sent shivers down her spine. In the corner of her eye, Paku saw something move near the staircase to a lower floor. She followed, feeling scared yet curious to find what she saw. The lower floor's lights were off, making Paku feel shaky. Paku has seen her share of ghosts and demons before, but face to face? Never, and she didn't want to ever.

Even as scared as Paku felt, she continued walking looking for something. She was hoping to find a person, someone who could at least help her take the poster out of the classroom to hang. Paku turned a corner and crashed into someone. The girl stumbled back a bit, putting a hand on her forehead because of how hard she hit it. Her arm covered her view of the person in front of her. "I'm sorry Mi-" a ruff voice trailed off. "Wait," the voice said, "Aren't you Izumo's friend?"

Paku stopped nudging at her forehead and looked up to the familiar sounding person. Ryuji Suguro stood in front of her. He stood there awkwardly as if not knowing what to do or say in that situation. "Oh, Mr. Suguro, were you the one who happened to peek inside the classroom I was in?" she smiled. "Uh," he answered, unsure, "I don't believe so. I had seen someone carrying a giant box, I offered help, though I don't think they heard me. They just continued walking up the stairs into this floor. Was that you by any chance?"

Paku blinked a few times, "No, though, that's really strange!" she fakely laughed. Bon's eyes wandered to the rest of the hallway behind the girl. It was sure as hell dimly lit to where anyone, maybe a demon could be hiding within. "Well, since you were trying to help someone, would you mind helping me take a poster outside?" said the sweet girl. "Mhm," responded Suguro. After he finishes helping Noriko, he'll come back and check this floor. Why the lights were off, and there were no students to be seen, was still a mystery to him. It wasn't too late after school, so the hallway shouldn't be this empty. Whatever, as he thought, he'll come to check it out in a bit. And so, he followed Paku into an upper floor. A door in the "empty" hallway slowly opened. It stayed open for a few seconds before it closed again. Inside the classroom, Lewin Light sighed in relief. He'd been lucky no one, but those two students had followed him. Lewin recognized the two students from the exwire class. One of them left the course, but her file was still in records. For the past day, he's been spying on students and teachers because of the suspected spies. As Lewin spies and takes notes, Arthur is checking the outside campus since Lightning told him of his suspicions.

Even if no one Lightning is investigating turns out to be a traitor, he'll at least have future notes to if they ever decide to double-cross the True Cross. Badum tsss.

The man smiled and wrote down some more letters. Lewin raised his head and opened the door to check if anyone was outside. Suddenly, in the hallway, he saw a dark figure turn and noticed him peeking out of the room. It became alerted and ran. Lightning threw open the door and ran after the being, ecstatic to catch them. It wasn't a student that was obvious by the lack of uniform or clear face. Nymphs came out of the air and flew at the person. Too bad the covered person shut themselves in a classroom, where Lewin and his familiars were locked out. In response, the tamer just burst through the door, damaging its hinges. Like every other classroom, the lights were off, and the room was empty. There was a simple difference though. One of the windows was open. Lewin walked over to it and took a look out of it. There wasn't any sight of the person or demon as who resembled the escapee. He slightly frowned, disappointed.

Meanwhile, Lewin's nymphs explored the room, most of them flew up to take a look at the high roof. The exorcist looked up at his familiars while they investigated. A sneaky grin spread across his face as he turned his head down at the floor. Lightning went over to the window and closed it slowly and silently, marking a critical move. He started whistling a western tune as he stepped towards the door he came in through. Slowly, he passed a few shelves, desks, and a closet.

Quickly and sharply he busted open the closet doors, and the figure pushed through him. Lewin stumbled back but smiled with excited glee. The character ran towards the once open window only to find it closed. Behind them, Lewin called a familiar to act as a circular saw over his hand. He looked through his bangs at the opposing person. They wore a black and dark blue mask which was partly covered by a hood from a type of coat cape they wore. On their shoulder, an Illuminati uniform badge stood proudly. "Oh, so he's one of them," Lewin thought. Becoming ready to fight they drew a dagger from their belt and charged for the man. The exorcist equally attacked back. He used conjured more familiars with a few words which acted as a shield as the attacker flung his armed hand at the other.

The dagger struck at the protection making a thunderous noise as they met. Another blade slammed onto the familiar's transparent green shield, shattering it like glass. Lightning backed off and stared at the attacker's mask's eye place, mouthing a few more summoning verses. Another attack came in, making Lightning dodge to the side. He avoided an additional attack that would have pinned him to a desk and assured his death. When the dagger hit the table, it broke, making Lewin even more grateful that he was able to dodge. The cycle of evading and breaking repeated a few times until the exorcist decided he couldn't take the person on themselves. The other being ran towards Lewin only to stop when ten nymphs came flying from the ceiling down at them. Lewin regained composure and pointed a hand towards his attacker, peeking through his bangs. "This was fun while it lasted, but I have to find the rest of ya," said Lightning. Every demon surrounded the person, building an invisible cage, trapping them. They tried slamming the barrier, failing over and over. When it looked like Lewin was ready to take the person as theirs, the floor under the person collapsed, letting the prisoner escape through a different exit. The tamer's familiars stopped their barrier and allowed their master to peek down the opening. They weren't down there. The person got away.

Lewin sent his nymphs through the hole to go check if there was anything the attacker left behind, maybe even evidence to show how they escaped. Lightning smiled. "I found my challenge," he chuckled to himself, happy his suspicions of Illuminati members running around Mephisto's school was right.

* * *

A sigh of relief came from the masked person. They took off their mask and took a gasp of fresh air. Rin was melting under all of that. That exorcist, he'd never seen him before. The way he looked through his hair sent a shiver down his spine. He could take the dude on, but his mission is to distract not obliterate. The boy also had to be careful not to use his flames like he always did, his cover would be blown, and Yukio would hate him. Was he confident his brother didn't hate him nor knew where he was? No, Rin was gambling.

The way he broke the floor was beyond risky. A month or so, prior, Rin received his official uniform for the Illuminati. It came with the cape and mask along with the actual cyan jacket, white pants, a black shirt, and some boots. He was expected to wear it to training with Lucifer and Homare, so he did. The first time he used it, almost everything but the jacket, pants, and mask burned. After that, Lucifer filed an order to make a unique uniform set for him. After a week, it was given to him. It looked like every other uniform, felt like it too, but what set it apart were the materials it was made out of. Rin didn't know what it was made of, but Homare mentioned it being made out of a "conductive material."

He swears he's heard that before, but Rin doesn't know where. The next training he noticed how he could send heat through his clothes. For example, he could warm up his leg to dangerous degrees and give a kick that'd fry someone to a crisp. The heat would transfer through his clothes and provide an equal effect. Back there with that exorcist, he noticed the floor under him was hollow. When he got trapped by the nymphs, he warmed up his shoes until the tiles under him bent and broke. After that, he cooled his feet as fast as possible to make sure not to leave any burned footprints. Then, he casually entered a room and exited through a window while making sure he closed the window the best he could. The risky part about heating up a limb or two was that Rin isn't well practiced on it and he sometimes ends up accidentally ingulfing his whole self in flames. Revealing himself like that was no way to go.

Nymphs had some special flying abilities, and the chance the man would use them to check where Rin went was too high so staying there was not a good idea. Who cares, he had already finished doing what he went to do there. Rin stood on a branch from a tree next to the boy's dormitory, waiting to see the next call because really, where else could he go? Every other place in this campus was loaded with cameras and requires him to be in a thousand layers of disguise which he's too tired to work in. Plus, for the mission, it was obliged him to stay on campus at all times.

Tomorrow, during the festival, there would be an attack by the Illuminati. The primary purpose would be to pick up Izumo, for some reason. Since when is she involved with the Illuminati? As much as Rin asked Lucifer or Homare, no one would tell him. Lucy also had planned to invite of Mephisto to join him. If he refused, which is very likely, Rin and a few other members are currently setting bombs around the campus. It's mostly the other members though. Rin's task was to distract any surveying exorcists, making sure they didn't catch any spies they weren't supposed to. If a bomb were set up and hidden, the person would report it in their earpiece to their teammates. From there, Rin would head over to the area, check if the work is well done and guard it against any nearby students or exorcists. He's still waiting for someone to call him over.

Snapping Rin's train of thought in half, his earpiece buzzed. While the other person talked, Rin thought to himself how gratified he is to have taken a small break. Next location was one of the tallest buildings in the entire school. The distance was a pain, but even so, there he went.

* * *

Court areas were usually expected to be quiet, according to many movies on T.V. but programs often portray them out to be chaotic and noisy. To accurately know, one would be required to attend a court case themselves. Right now, Yukio wished to himself that the former could be the one occurring now. "Order! Order!" yelled a woman from the Grigori. Even so, the talking, shouting, and murmuring proceeded. Yukio's desire for silence continued. After a few minutes of bland chattering, tolerable half-silence took the room. Samuel cleared his throat, eliminating any scrap of commotion. "As I was saying," the man stated with one of his pale hands to his mouth, "every and all search crews for the son of Satan will be called off."

"Three, two, one..." Yukio counted down in his head, getting gird because of the predictable audience reaction.

Chaos' door opened again with a plethora of roars of apparent confusion and disagreement. Out of everyone in the crowd, Yukio could pick out Shura's murderous screams. Weeks ago, he and Shura set up a secret search team after the original ended with a fate alike. It was quickly found out by the Order's deferent dog, Arthur August Angel. A conference took place between said man, Shura, and himself where Yukio made a solid enough case for Angel to make the statement to the Order. From there, the groups united to take on the mission. Their tactics being novel and accurate, they found evidence such as camera recordings of Rin leaving the dorm with bags, but not enough to find him. "He ran away," they informed Yukio. The discovery shook his thoughts even more than before, breaking into two honest sides he couldn't feel.

In one hand, he was worried sickly for where was Rin or what could have happened. Mephisto, being Rin and Yukio's legal guardian, didn't allow Yukio to go out on his own, looking for his absent brother. Disobeying would mean the police get involved as well as the Order. Bringing along more trouble would not help the situation. What if Satan took him away into Gehenna? Did Rin intend to go missing? Why isn't Mephisto doing more about this?

"I advice you to stay on a low view, Okumura," the king of time told him. Does Mephisto have a hand at what is going on? Questions returned, buzzing at his head. This time, he wasn't entirely prehensile because the explanation would be one way, or the other, busting down the door.

Now, that was one part of his views, but the other was the total contrary. Yukio was... glad Rin was gone. It had something to do with getting to live his own life instead of rushing about, trying to organize Rin's. Yukio has his own world, his own strides, and purposes. If Rin was going to have his life as a vagrant, so be it.

The woman next to Yukio nudged at him to pay notice, for he'd been gazing at the floor for quite a while now. He picked his head up and looked over at the worried woman, thanking her for who knows what and looked back at the man in the middle of the room. "-he, Okumura Yukio, will continue his daily tests and life," said the man, grabbing Yukio's entire attention by naming him. People on the same balcony as him gave him a glance and turned their attention back at their superiors. Yukio stiffened while avoiding any type of eye contact but held his position to draw no more care to himself. The following piece of the gathering was spent discussing ideas for tomorrow's celebration. For example, what ranks will be securing what part of the school and such. Lately, the demonic activity rate has been soaring and with tourists coming about, guarding and surveying the festival was the top priority. Yukio wondered if the academy barriers were weakening because more and more demons have been sneaking into classes, lashing at students and their instructors. The force fields were Mephisto's job so was something wrong with him? From Yukio's platform, Mephisto, who leaned on the rostrum, looked exhausted. He looked paler if that was even possible. Yukio squinted his eyes trying to find some sort of clue as to why he looked so ill. He thought he saw something on the demon's wrist, a hand pulled the teenager away from the railing. "C'mon, we're going to go look for him," said Shura while pulling Yukio along by the neck of his uniform. "Hey! What-" he protested sounding much like the person Shura declared they'd go look for. Mephisto's green eye glared to where the boy once stood and returned to looking at the audience as a whole, noting he'd need to meet those two misfits sooner or later.

* * *

Yukio fiercely tore the woman's hand off of him, her response being petulant enough to ask why he'd do that as if it wouldn't be remissive he'd do that. "Why'd you do that, chicken?" Shura responded irritably. "Why did you force me out of the meeting?" he questioned in return. "Do you want to find Rin or not?" she asked, ignoring his question along with her own. "Obviously, but you shouldn't have been so reckless to where you grab me and run out of the room. You attracted attention to yourself, and something terrible could have happened," he responded, "What even is your reason for leaving in such a hurry?"

The lady crossed her arms and responded, "I needed to leave that place, listening to Mephisto go on and on without doing anything was driving me nuts. And you heard the man, they're not going to even try to look for Rin anymore, so the task is ours. The sooner the start at it, the better."

To be completely honest, the higher-ups never mentioned anything about any exorcists going out and trying the task of looking for the son of Satan out by themselves. Shura didn't require a legal guardian, she's an adult, so it seemed okay if she went. " _Yours_ ," Yukio corrected, "I'm not allowed to leave campus because Mephisto already lost one child and if he loses me too, then all hell will break loose."

"Who cares about that scumbag? Hell would be released, but if we return with your brother, everything will be fixed," she said with crossed arms. She appeared to be upset for whatever reason, especially when he mentioned Mephisto. "Bringing him back won't automatically reverse any and all effects our absences will cause," breathed Yukio, "plus, we're fine right now, and at the end of the day, the world keeps moving."

Something in the teenager's words made Shura's head tilt and eyebrows furrow in confusion. He, Yukio, was acting strange, unusual. It's normal for him to be quiet and want to keep out of as much as possible, but his words told her he was happy right now, that he didn't want or need to go looking for Rin. In some twisted way, it was true, he didn't need Rin, but what that wrong was the fact Yukio is Rin's brother. A brother who was missing for whatever reason and was just recently left behind by the Order. Shura was only his trainer, teacher to be precise, and she was worried about him as if the world would burn down if they didn't find him. Compare him to her, and you'd notice something was unmistakably wrong with his behavior. Yukio turned away from Shura, seemingly ready to march back into the conference room. Shura's eyes squinted, she spoke, "You don't want him to come back, do you?"

Yukio froze for a few seconds, he bit his lip. "I didn't say that," he muttered after a few seconds. "The liar!" Shura angrily thought. She clenched her fist to her side and added, "But you meant it, didn't you?"

After that, he stayed quiet, Shura's stare dug into his back. "So, you don't want him back, huh? Listen to yourself and tell me what about you not wanting him back sounds wrong, " she shakily uttered. Yukio didn't comment anything and quietly started walking back into the discussion room. Shura's anger stayed, and as Yukio opened the door she shrieked, "FINE THEN! I WILL GO LOOK FOR HIM SINCE YOU DON'T SEEM TO CARE!"

Heads inside the room turned to the screeching woman, having no context to what she was saying. The other turned his head to glance at her slightly then entered the area, leaving her in silence. "He's challenging me," Shura thought, thinking back to how he turned his head to peek through the side of his glasses.

"Why doesn't he care?" , she asked herself, "Why, why, why?"

She felt strongly about the situation because of the connection. Shura saw herself in Rin and Yukio. Having the relationship to them she did, she felt a lot like a big sister to both him and Yukio. It felt as if she was Shiro and they were her when she was younger. To fail them would be like how Shiro abandoned her. There's no way in hell she was going to let that happen. Shura needs to uncover a way to get Yukio to care for Rin's absence. To locate him, she'd need to find as many clues as possible. There's someone who could help her with that, though he wasn't at the meeting today he's her best shot. Lewin Light, the creeper of the Japan branch, wherever he was, is going to help her through this mystery. One way or another.

* * *

People took their magical keys and left the room through several exits, closing the meeting for good. Mephisto stayed behind in the place, alone. When the last door hit its close, he pulled a hand over his mouth and coughed sickly. His other hand remained at his side, too dead and aching to move. Under his gloves, purple burns painted his upper arms to his wrists, aging his skin with no limit. An apology to Lucifer seemed fitting for if he's experienced this for the majority of his life, Samuel pitied his brother. His vigorous past self felt so far from him. The king's time manipulating abilities weren't saving him from this torture. In a previous chapter, when he attempted to peek at the Illuminati, a dominant disease carried over to himself limiting his actions. Every and all energy Mephisto currently possessed was prioritized to the time-freezing barrier around the artificial Gehenna gate as well as protection around his academy. The academy's barrier didn't have its highest strengths, but it was better than nothing. Due to his sickness, most machination was put to hold or continued without his revision. Even in such state, the need to check in mocked at him like the mysteries of space. He yearned to know the placement of pieces.

Samuel removed his hand from his mouth, disgusted by the presence of dark blood stains that ruined his lavender color gloves. He attempted at summoning his seat, but failed, sticking with pushing himself up with the platform's golden fence. The rostrum-like stage at the center of the room was perfect for his yearned glimpse through the lives of others to come alive before him. If his powers could work for him, Mephisto would see it as a miracle. As implacable as the burns and rots were, he worked with them. The room's lights turned off, and the show began. Dark denim clouds took the room's atmosphere and choked it. The man who stood half leaned to hold lifted his chin with a smile for the conflict within his host body allowed him his wish.

Space around Mephisto burst with light until the king held his own set of constellations. Trains of stars ran through the room as planets faded into existence. Eventually, a whole solar system orbited around the man while maintaining within the area. Mephisto had partially hoped he could handle an entire galaxy to admire its unexpected beauty even in his state, but unfortunately, he wasn't able to. He was barely fortuitous enough to manage a few planets along with the sun over his top hat. The sight was extraordinary and looked to be from a child's imagination. With Mephisto holding it all together, it felt like an orchestral performance with him as the conductor. The king waved his free hand around weakly making the scene morph into some of the scenarios around the campus. Suguro and Paku's meeting, Lewin's fight with an intruder, people running around the place because of the event, the meeting that took place, Shura and Yukio's feud, and movement late at night. Speaking of late, he better wrap up quickly, his weakened being didn't allow him to freeze time to take as long as he wanted to review every last corner of the day. Adding to his need to leave, tomorrow would be essential and looking like a walking corpse would be no way to meet tourists! Mephisto let his hand fall to his side and the scenery before him banished to dust, leaving him to rest and make his way out with the darkness. Little did he know, up in a balcony, bright blue eyes stared down at the unwell demon. Oh, Mephisto would soon regret not noticing those eyes.

* * *

 **End of Chapter.**

 **Reviews for chapter 5: *Don't exist***

 **Pll: rEal sHit?**

 **(Please note I'm joking)**

 **Howdy! Sorry the chapter was so short, I've been running around like crazy. Next chapter will take me a little longer to write because a lot will happen, please forgive how late it'll be. Good day/Night!**


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